With the exception of Abraham Lincoln, there may be no more commanding a 19th-century American figure than Frederick Douglass, who just today was granted a presence in the Capitol's Statuary Hall.
As with so many issues related to African Americans, this one was fraught with delay and dissention and, frankly, silliness. Why should Douglass have been honored with a statue so long after Confederate heroes such as Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee? In contemporary terms, Davis and Lee were rebels and traitors; Douglass, despite his slave past, remained a loyal American. We cats say, fie on that.
But true to today's partisan atmosphere, even something as non-controversial as a statue dedication became enmeshed in discussions of D.C. voting rights, which we cats don't doubt Douglass would have wholeheartedly supported. Why this is even an issue today is beyond our comprehension — but for the fact that the GOP doesn't want to give black Americans additional power at the ballot box. (Oh, yeah, there's that.)
If Frederick Douglass were transported by a time machine to 2013, we cats are sure he would not recognize today's Republican Party. So it's appropriate to quote Douglass after an 1865 visit to the White House:
"I could not have been more than 10 feet from him when Mr. Lincoln saw me; his countenance lighted up, and he said in a voice which was heard all around, 'Here comes my friend Douglass.' As I approached him he reached out his hand, gave me a cordial shake, and said, 'Douglass, I saw you in the crowd today listening to my inaugural address. There is no man's opinion I value more than yours; what do you think of it?' I said, 'Mr. Lincoln, it was a sacred effort.'"
Somehow, we cats think that today's Republicans would define "a sacred effort" very, very differently. Which is why, among other reasons, that they're an endangered species.
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